It is my prayer that through
this message that I'm going to bring tonight, every child of
God will be able to say, my father. Through the son, my father. I've entitled this message, adoption. And we just read of the first
adoption in the scripture. Jacob tells Joseph, your two
sons Ephraim and Manasseh are mine. Wonder how Joseph felt about
that. I don't know. Just as Reuben and Simeon, my
two firstborn sons, are mine, with all the privileges that
go with that, your two sons are now mine. You know, these are the only
two grandchildren of Jacob that were recognized as part of the
actual 12 tribes. tribe of Ephraim and Manasseh. That wasn't said of any of Jacob's
other grandchildren, just these two men whom Jacob said, they
are mine. Now, there were other adoptions
in the Bible. You'll remember that Moses was adopted, wasn't
he? He was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter. Esther was adopted
by her uncle, Mordecai. The Lord was adopted by Joseph. When Paul was writing to the
Gentiles with regard to adoption, it was commonly practiced in
the Roman world in that day. It was much more common even
than it is in our day. What would happen, a Roman may
look at his biological children, and he might have done a lot.
And he looked at his kids, and he said, they're going to lose
everything. They won't succeed as my heir. And by law, someone
else who was able to handle it, he could adopt. Maybe an adult. And the only Requisite in this,
in the Roman societies, if you were adopted by somebody to this
end, you had to completely renounce all association with your original
family. You couldn't have a share in
any of the inheritance. But if you were adopted by a
Roman, you were given full privilege of sonship. And you were the
heir of everything. And that happened, like I said,
Regularly. Now what is adoption? Adoption
is God becoming our Father. What an awesome thought. God, the living God, the God
of glory, becoming our Father. father and giving us all of the
privileges of sonship. Same privileges Christ has as
the son. Every believer has because we're
said to be joint heirs with Christ. I think that maybe it could best
be described by what our Lord said in his great high priestly
prayer in John chapter 17 verse 23 when he said, thou hast loved
them as thou hast loved me. Now that is adoption. When God
is my father and he says with regard to me, I love him with
the same love I have toward my son. Now we wouldn't dare say
that, we wouldn't dare think it, we sure wouldn't believe
it unless God's word said it, and here we have it. Thou hast
loved them as thou hast loved me. Now before we proceed, I
need to say this because this will help us understand something
about adoption. God's not everybody's father.
A lot of times he's presented as this universal father, but
he's not everybody's father. Turn to John chapter eight. We
looked at this this morning, but let's look at it again. John
chapter eight. Verse 41. You do. deeds of your father. Then said
they to him, we be not born of fornication, we have one father,
God. Jesus said unto them, if God
were your father, you'd love me. For I proceeded
forth and came from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent
me. Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot,
you lack the ability to hear my word. You are of your father,
the devil. Now, with regard to these people,
their father certainly wasn't God. Their father was the devil. Remember the parable of the wheat
and tares, how the devil Put the tares in the church. The
devil did this, and they were his children. Now, I don't pretend
to understand all the implications that are behind that, but the
Lord says to these people, you are of your father, the devil. And he goes on to say, in verse
47, he that's of God, heareth God's words. You therefore hear
them not because you are not of God. God is not everybody's
father, but he is to every believer. He is your heavenly father. You're taught to pray our father,
which art in heaven. We were selected by our father,
adopted by our father before time began in eternal election. That's when I was adopted. When
he chose me, that's when you're adopted, somebody chooses to
adopt you. He chose to adopt me before the
foundation of the world. Listen to this scripture from
Acts chapter one, I mean Ephesians chapter one. According, verse
four, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children. There's what adopt predestination
is about. He predestinated every believer
to be his adopted Child I love Romans chapter 8 verse 29 for
whom he did foreknow Then he also did predestinate to be To
be conformed to the image of his son that we might be the
firstborn among many Brethren. Oh, what a precious thing it
is to be one of the brethren. I That's the highest calling
there is, to be one of the brethren. That's higher than being a president
or a king or an emperor, to be one of the brethren of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Both he that sanctifieth and
they who are sanctified are all of one, for the which cause he's
not ashamed to call them brethren. His adopted children. Now, two things happen when you
adopt. I think of that scripture, Behold,
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called sons of God. Now, two things happen in his
adoption, and this really can't happen in a human adoption. As
a human being, it's such a blessing when people adopt someone And
they make that child theirs, and they give themselves to that
child. And it's just a wonderful thing
that that has happened. And sometimes people are afraid
to adopt because they think, well, what if we get somebody
that's kind of just somebody that comes from a bad background,
they have bad genes, and hardshell and all kinds of things will
happen. Well, they got your genes. I mean, your children got your
genes. That's just as bad, isn't it? Isn't it? It sure is. The point is, what a blessing
when someone adopts someone to be their child. I wonder if there's
anybody that's adopted in here. If you are, what a blessing to
be adopted. Now, in order to be adopted,
first, the Son of God died for us. And because of that, we are
given all the privileges he has. Every privilege that Jesus Christ
has, you have. You're welcomed into the very
presence of God, your father, through the Lord Jesus Christ. We are given all the privileges
as sons, as his adopted sons because of Christ dying for my
sins. But here's something a human
adoption cannot do. Not only does he select us to
be his sons and daughters by adoption, we're birthed into
the kingdom and we're given his very nature. born of the Spirit,
born with the nature that He is given. So we both have the
privilege of adoption, all the rights of Son and actually heaven-born
children of God. John put it this way, to as many
as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of
God, even to them which believe on His name, which were born,
not of blood, Not of the will of man, not of the will of the
flesh, but of God. Now, if you're a child of God,
he selected you to be his child. And he's given you the nature
of a child in the new birth. Now, I want to look at three
passages from scripture in the New Testament where this is clearly
brought out this thing of being his adopted children. I'm pretty
much Genesis 48.5 mentions the first adoption, but I'm just
using this as a springboard to get into what the scripture actually
teaches with regard to this thing of adoption. Now, would you first
turn to Galatians chapter three. Galatians chapter three, verse
23, but before faith came, you know, there was a time before
faith, when you didn't know the Lord, when you were not a believer,
when you did not possess faith, the gift of God. Before faith
came, we were kept under the law, shut up under the faith
which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster. Notice, and you'll only see this
if you have the King James Version, the authorized version, to bring
us is in italics. The translators put it there
thinking that it would help understand the verse, and all it does is
take away the meaning of what the verse means. And I'm thankful
for the King James in that sense. This is not inspired to bring
this. The fact of the matter is the
law never brought anybody to Christ. All the law does is expose
your sin. That's it. The law never brought
anybody to Christ. I've heard people say, well,
we need to preach the law. No, you need to preach the gospel.
If you preach the law, all you'll do is give people no hope. The law never brought anybody
to Christ. Now, I love God's law, too. I
delight in the law of God after the inward man. I'm not in any
way speaking disrespectfully of the holy law of God. I love
the Ten Commandments. I love every one of them. But
the Ten Commandments didn't bring me to Christ. God the Holy Spirit
brought me to Christ. He gave me life and revealed
himself to me. And so what does it say? Wherefore
the law was our schoolmaster, leave out to bring us, and unto
is also translated, and here's what I think would be the proper
translation, the law was our schoolmaster until Christ. Until Christ. That we might be justified by
faith, But after that faith has come, we're no longer under a
schoolmaster for you are all the children of God by faith
in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ to put on Christ. Now here's not talking
about water baptism. I love water baptism. It's the only way to
be baptized. It's our confession of Christ.
But when he's talking about being baptized into Christ, he's talking
about when Christ was baptized under the wrath of God, we were
in him. As many as you have been baptized
into Christ have put on Christ. He's your life. There's neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither bond nor free.
There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ
Jesus. Now understand this, there's
no clergy and laity in the kingdom of God. You're all one, one in
Christ Jesus. There's no important, less important,
more important. You're all one in Christ Jesus. And it doesn't get any higher
than that, does it? Doesn't get any better than that. one in
Christ Jesus, and if you be Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed,
and heirs according to the promise. Now he's speaking now of a Roman
rule. This is not found in the Old
Testament. He's talking about the Roman rule of adoption. And
he knew that they would understand what he's talking about. He says,
now I say that the heir, as long as he's a child, Differeth nothing
from a servant, though he be Lord of all, but he's under tutors
and governors into the time appointed of the father. You know, when
the servant got smacked, he got smacked. When the servant got
whipped, he got whipped. He wasn't any different than
they were. He was under the authority of these tutors and governors.
And they were given full liberty to make him stay in line. Even
so we, verse three, when we were children, this is before we were
sons of God in our understanding, we were in bondage under the
elements, the principles, the ABCs of the world. But when the fullness of the
time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made
under the law to redeem them that were under the law. Why?
That we might receive. Now, do you hear that? That we might receive the adoption
of sons. Oh, may God give us all the grace
right now to receive, I'm his child. He made me that. And if he's for me, who could
be against me? Verse six, and because you were
sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father. Now I've heard people say that
word Abba refers to daddy. I don't believe so. It's Aramaic
for father, but it speaks of a relationship of love and acceptance. Abba, father. Where thou art
no more a servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. Turn with me to Romans chapter
eight. Romans chapter eight. Let's begin reading in verse
one. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus, that's talking about the new birth,
the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, him revealing
to us the gospel, hath made me free. from the law of sin and
death. That's what the Ten Commandments
are called. The law of sin, the law of death. They expose sin, and all they
can do is put you to death. Can't do anything more than that.
Four, verse three. What the law could not do, and that it was weak through
the flesh, the problem's not with the law, the problem's with
me and you. God's law is holy. I'm the problem. God sending
his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh, that's why there's no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus, that the righteousness of the law
might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but
after the spirit. This thing of walking not after
the flesh but after the spirit, it's not like so you can, well,
one day I'm walking in the flesh and one day I'm walking in the
spirit, one minute I'm walking in the flesh and another minute
I'm walking in the spirit. No, you're either walking in
the flesh or you're walking in the spirit. Every believer walks
in the spirit, looking to Christ only and walking in the spirit. believing the gospel, resting
in Jesus Christ as their obedience before God, they fulfill the
righteousness of the law. I stand before God's law without
sin. God's law looks me over and says
there's no guilt. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
did. And when you walk in the spirit, that means you're looking
to Christ only. Let's go on reading. They that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh. They think like a fleshly man.
They think the way men think. But they that are after the spirit,
the things of the spirit. For to be carnally minded, that's the way we're born. To
be carnally minded is death. But to be spiritually minded
is life and peace. Now, I'm either carnally minded,
the mind I had when I was born, or I'm spiritually minded. And
I think this is important to bring out, particularly in this
day, people, I've had people tell me I'm a spiritual person.
And I, no, you're not. You're not a spiritual person
unless you've been born of the Spirit. That is the spiritual
person who walks after the mind of the Spirit. Now, verse seven,
verse six, for to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually
minded is life and peace because the carnal mind. Now, once again,
Look, the is is in italics. Let's read it without that is,
and we get a little bit closer to the truth. The carnal mind,
enmity. Enmity. Enmity itself. Against God, for it's not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be, so then, they that are
in the flesh. That means you have no spiritual
nature. You're in the flesh. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God, but you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If so be that the spirit of God
dwell in you, which he does of every believer.
Now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he's none of
his, he's not a Christian. And if Christ be in you, the
body is dead because of sin. Now, he's talking about the natural
man still being dead in sins. You have a man in you that's
still dead and you're aware of it. It takes a new man to see
that. The new man sees him for what he is, but he says, If Christ
be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life
because of righteousness, Christ's righteousness. But if the spirit
of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal
bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you. You're going to be quickened
to be made just like Christ. Therefore, brethren, is there
ever a truer statement? Therefore, brethren, we are debtors
not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if you live after
the flesh, you shall die. Now, living after the flesh isn't
just speaking of living in some kind of sinful, taking drugs
and partaking in wrong sex. That's included, but that's not
really what he's, that's certainly, if you're in the flesh, it's
salvation by wants. That's the main meaning of that.
If you live after the flesh, You shall die, but if you through
the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you put them to
death. You see you can't be saved by anything you do. You shall
live. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Now he's gonna get more
into adoption. Look at this, verse 15. For you have not received
the Spirit of bondage again to fear, the bondage of the law,
the bondage of salvation by works, but you have received the spirit
of adoption. There's that word. Whereby we
cry, Abba, Father, He's our Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness
with our spirit that we're the children of God. And if children,
then heirs, heirs of God in joint heirs with Christ. If so be that
we suffer with Him, suffer with that we may be glorified, also
glorified together, for I reckon that the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation waits
for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creation
was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him
who has subjected the same in hope. Because the creation itself
also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into
the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the
whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. He's
talking about the physical creation. And not only they, but ourselves
also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit. Even we, ourselves,
groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption
of our body. Do you know what it is to groan
under the weight of your sin? It can't even be expressed. You
grow. Waiting for the redemption of
the body. What is that song? Waiting for
my body that will never sin. That is every believer. Verse
24, for we're saved by hope. I love this. We're saved by hope,
but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why
did he yet hope for? But if we hope for that which
we see not, Then do we with patience wait for it. Now I have a hope
that I stand before God without guilt. I can't see it, but I
hope. A hope that's seen is not hope.
You see, we walk by faith, not by sight. Likewise, verse 26,
the spirit also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should
pray for as we ought. We don't even know what to pray
for. Somebody says, I do. Well, maybe, maybe not. But I know this. Paul says, we
don't even know what to pray for as we ought to. That's what
Paul says. But the Spirit itself, himself, maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. No language. is used in this,
like David spoke of, let the sighing of the prisoner come
before you. And he that searcheth the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the spirit because he maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. Now this is the
privilege of adoption. God the Holy Spirit interceding
for us. Now turn to John chapter 14. Verse 15, if you love me, keep my commandments. He doesn't say do your best to
keep it. He says, keep them. He doesn't say give a sincere
effort at keeping them. He says, keep them. If you love
me, keep my commandments. Now, we know from 1 John 3, verse
23, we know exactly what he's talking about. This is a commandment
that we believe on his name and love one another as he gave us
commandment. If he means the 10 commandments,
well, I have kept them in Christ, but in and of myself, I haven't
kept one one time, neither have you. He's talking about the commands
of the gospel. If you love me, keep my commandments,
and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter,
that he may abide with you forever, even the spirit of truth, whom
the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knows
him, but you know him. He dwelleth with you and shall
be in you. I'll not leave you comfortless.
I will not leave you orphans, is what my marginal reading says.
You stay a child. And when my Spirit comes to you,
I come to you. This is speaking of the union
between the Godhead. When the Spirit comes, Christ
comes. When Christ comes, the Father
comes, our Father. Look in John chapter 16. Verse seven, nevertheless, this
is before his crucifixion, shortly before, nevertheless, I tell
you the truth, it's expedient for you, it's absolutely necessary
for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the comforter
will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you. And when he has come, He will
reprove the world, overwhelmingly convict the world. Now, does the world here mean
everybody to ever live? Well, on Judgment Day, everybody
to ever live will be overwhelmingly convinced and convicted. But
I don't really think that's what he's talking about. I think he's
talking about the same thing that he said when he said, God
so loved the world. that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life." They're going to be overwhelmingly convinced
of these three things, of sin, verse When He's come, He will
prove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because
they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go
to my Father and you see me no more. Of judgment, because the
Prince of this world is judged. Now, when God the Holy Spirit
comes as the Comforter, in the spirit of adoption, He's going
to convince and convict of these three things. Number one, sin. This is so important. How does
the Lord comment on this? Of sin? Because they believe
not on me. You have not been convicted by
the Holy Spirit until you have been made to see that you can't
even believe. You believe not. You can't come
up with the faith. You can't come up with anything.
Now that's when you're convicted of sin. And you never really
believe until you find out you can't. As long as you think,
whenever I get ready, I can believe. One of these days I'll believe.
It's my full intention to believe. One of these days, you have no
idea what sin is. Because if you have any idea
as to what sin is, you find out that you can't even believe unless
he gives you the grace to believe. And you don't decide to believe. You don't make a decision. I'm
going to be a believer. You find yourself believing because
he gave you faith. But before I'm there, if I think
faith is in my wheelhouse, if I think it's in my ability, I've
never been convicted of sin. God the Holy Spirit comes and
he convicts of sin. Have you ever found out that
you can't believe? You know what you do when you
find that out? You ask the Lord to give you
faith. And that's when you get it, when he gives it. It's not
something you just up and work up. And when God the Holy Spirit
convicts a man of sin, he's convicted of this thing of unbelief. He's
actually made to see that unbelief is the greatest sin. The thing
that he can't do is the worst thing about him. Unbelief. I
mean, if I would tell you I've got sin in my life, and you'd
be thinking, I know everyone, you'd think, what's he doing?
What's he doing? What's he committing? What's
he doing? If I said, well, the sin in my life is unbelief, you'd
think, oh, That's not that, you know, sure, no. That's the worst
thing that could be said about me or you or anybody else. The
sin of unbelief. Next, he says in verse 10, of
righteousness, because I go to my father and you see me no more. Now, when God, the Holy Spirit
convicts you, you become convicted that the righteousness of Jesus
Christ is the only righteousness there is that he goes and presents
to the Father. Are you convicted of that? Do
you know what David meant when he said, I've made mention of
thy righteousness, even thine only. He said, you'll be convicted
of righteousness when you know that I'm going to my father.
I am the righteousness. I go to my father and present
myself. And then he says in verse 11
of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. And in the original, that is
in the perfect tense. He has been judged, completely
judged. Judgment's over. All we're doing
is waiting for the passing out of the sentences. You see, you're
convicted, convinced by Christ that judgment took place on the
cross. Satan was judged. Satan was condemned. My sin was condemned. Now listen
to me, everybody that's not saved, here's what they're guilty of,
murdering the son of God. That's the issue between a lost
man and God, the murder of his son. And everyone that is saved,
they're saved by what Christ did when he was put to death. You become convicted and convinced
of this. Let's go on reading verse 12. He says, I have yet many things
to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. I remember one
time I was listening to John Chapman preach, and he was dealing
with this. And he said, if the Lord did
teach it to me, I wouldn't understand it. I just chuckled. I thought,
I can relate. I can relate. I have many things
to say unto you that you cannot bear them now, howbeit when he
The Spirit of Truth. Don't you love His name as the
Spirit of Truth? When He, the Spirit of Truth has come, He
will guide you into all truth. This is the adopted sons. He
will guide you into all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself.
Please, may we hear this. God, the Holy Spirit doesn't
speak of himself. He speaks of Christ. He doesn't
draw attention to himself. He draws attention to Jesus Christ. He's the humble spirit. He doesn't
draw any attention to himself. He will guide you into all truth,
for he shall not speak of himself. You know, whenever you hear a
preacher all the time talking about the Holy Spirit, it's because
he doesn't have the Holy Spirit. That's exactly why. Anybody who has
the Holy Spirit will be speaking continually of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. He will show you things to come. I know the future. Jesus Christ
wins. And I'm complete in Him. I don't
really need to know anything else. I've had people ask me
what my view of the millenniums are. I've got a view, but I'll
still give this answer. I'm a panmentalist. It'll all
pan out in the end, and I'm satisfied with that, totally satisfied.
I know the future. He will show you things to come.
He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall show
it. unto you. That's what the Holy
Spirit does. He glorifies Christ. Now, all glory goes to Christ. And have you learned in your
heart what Paul said in Galatians 6.14? Is this your statement
too? Can you say this with just as
much conviction as Paul the Apostle when he said, God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, I can say that with
just as much feeling and conviction as Paul did in the sense that
I know he's all I got to glory and I don't have anything else.
And I wanted to remain that way because as soon as I have something
else, I'll leave Christ. God forbid that I should glory,
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse
15, all things that the father hath are mine. Therefore said
I that he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you. Adoption. The father selects. who He will
adopt. The Son makes it to where those
people that God has adopted have all the rights of sonship. Joint heirs with Jesus Christ
and the Spirit of God gives us the nature of a son in regeneration
and we can pray our Father. Which art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name. Thy kingdom come. That's the
very desire of our heart. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. In praying to our Father, we
say, give us this day our daily bread. We know we're totally
dependent. Give us what we need. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, our
sins, as we forgive those that are indebted to us. Now, if I'm
not willing to forgive, don't be asking the Lord to forgive
you. May the Lord impress that upon
us. And we're always, if we come into his presence, forgive us
of our sins. I've had people say, well, why
does he tell us to ask for forgiveness if we're already forgiven? I know I need to pray constantly,
forgive me of my sins constantly. And when somebody asks, I guess
it's a legitimate question, but my sins are forgiven. And I'm
to pray every day, Lord, forgive me of my sins. And lead us not
into temptation. Don't let me be tempted. I know
enough about myself that I'll fall before temptation, so I'm
asking that I might not even be tempted, that you build a
hedge about me, so I don't even have the opportunity for it to
come into my mind. Lead me not into temptation,
but deliver me from evil. Deliver me from the evil one,
Satan. Deliver me from this evil one,
me. Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself. In me is thy hope found. Deliver
me from evil, for thine is the kingdom, thine is the power,
thine is the glory forever. Adoption. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
adopting grace that makes us your sons. And Lord, as we partake
of the bread and wine, enable us to do this in remembrance
of thy dear son, how he is all in our salvation and we're celebrating
his accomplishments for us. And Lord, enable us to do that
in the spirit of faith. Enable us to understand through
what he did, we are your adopted children. Bless this message
for Christ's sake. In his name we pray. Amen.